Christopher "Dudus" Coke Wanted

Christopher "Dudus" Coke, 40, a Jamaican national, is wanted by the US authorities on a number of drug and weapon offenses. See the story here.

The U.S. has officially asked the Jamaican government to hand him over to face those charges and has complained about the tardiness on the part of Jamaican government to do so. See the extradition request here.

"The U.S. government is looking forward to the Jamaican government respecting their obligations under the treaty," Patricia Attkisson, spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Kingston, said.

Acknowledging the request for Christopher Dudus Coke's extradition, a Jamaican official responded:

“The Government has been notified and discussions are taking place. It is principally the prerogative of the Ministry of Justice and the Attorney General’s office”, Foreign Affairs Minister Kenneth Baugh said.

Coke's lawyer, Tom Tavares-Finson, said he had not seen any paperwork and did not know why the U.S. was interested in his client. He claimed that Coke had no connections with the United States and was also not sure if his client would turn himself in voluntarily.

"We're waiting to hear what the decision is," said Tavares-Finson, who has dismissed the U.S. charges as "hype."

According to reports, Coke is the alleged leader of the "Shower Posse" gang. He is charged in the U.S. Southern District of New York with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana and conspiracy to illegally traffic in firearms. Coke faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted. Under the Extradition Treaty, accused persons do not have to sell illicit drugs in the United States to be convicted in that country. See a report in the Jamaican newspaper the Jamaica Gleaner concerning the U.S.- Jamaican Extradition Treaty.

Christopher Coke is not only politically well-connected to the governing party in Jamaica, the JLP (Jamaica Labour Party), he is also the recognized leader of his community of Tivoli Gardens in downtown Kingston. His influence stretches across the entire island of Jamaica and overseas to the U.S. and England. His extradition to the U.S. would likely have huge ramifications among his followers and his community.

View Tivoli Gardens, Jamaica in a larger map

Another Jamaican newspaper, the Jamaica Observer gives this perspective on Coke, as well as some background information. His aliases include Dudus, President and Shortman:

"He is the leading figure among JLP garrisons and many leaders in those communities report to him. He is tremendously powerful and is feared by friends and foes alike"

According to an article in Jamaicaviews.com, there could be social unrest if Coke was to be extradited. He has the legitimacy that the government can only envy among the urban poor. A Caribbean scholar with knowledge of the workings of inner-city communities across the region put it this way:

“For the people, legitimacy in the Government stops at Carib 5 cinema (in Cross Roads). From that point down, he (Dudus) is more legitimate than the Government. He has a monopoly of force and consensual power because he has legitimacy that the Government of Jamaica cannot even dream to have where the urban poor is concerned.”

“What does a government do when they have created a government within a government? What do they now do when they have to hand up this government to another government?” he asked. “He (Dudus) can get kids to be off the street at 8:30 pm. The Government does not even have the power to scratch anybody’s hair much more to do something like that. People feel safer in Tivoli Gardens than anywhere else. It is the safest garrison. This is touchy. In a country that barely understands order, you have found somebody to provide order in the midst of chaos because downtown is chaos. What do you do with him?”

The government in Jamaica is under pressure to respond to the U.S. request for extradition from the opposition party the PNP (People's National Party). Peter Bunting, Opposition spokesman on national security, claims that the Government's failure to extradite Tivoli Gardens strongman, Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, has caused a stand-off between Washington and Kingston.

Peter Bunting, said in a press statement that the longer the Government took to honor the US request to send Coke to stand trial, the country's national interests and international reputation was being jeopardized.

"It is completely untrue," said Minister of Justice and Attorney General Dorothy Lightbourne:

"The Jamaican Government has, indeed, responded through the channels laid down in the Extradition Treaty between Jamaica and the United States and there is ongoing communication between the authorities of both states," she said in a press statement.

There has also been criticism of Jamaica's Prime Minister, Bruce Golding. Tivoli Gardens is his constituency and he has mostly been silent on the requested extradition of Christopher Coke. An editorial asked a question that Prime Minister Golding needs to answer clearly and unequivocally:

That question is "whether the Government's loyalties lie with those who hold that the end justifies the means or the citizens of this country who are committed to order and the rule of law".

According to Claude Robinson, a journalist with the Jamaica Observer:

All that can be expected of the Prime Minister is a simple and clear statement acknowledging the request and affirming that it will be dealt with in accordance with our democracy and our constitution without regard to the political affiliation of the target of the request. Once that due process is complete, the country will be told the full outcome. That's all that was expected from the prime minister. He should have delivered.

So the question remains, as it has for over two months now:

Will the Jamaican government hand over Christopher "Dudus" Coke to the U.S. authorities to answer the criminal charges against him?

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La-Z-Boy in DWI case on eBay

A motorized La-Z-Boy driven by Dennis Leroy Anderson, 62, of 143 5th St., Proctor, Mn. is up for sale to the highest bidder on eBay. Dennis was charged with, and plead guilty to, a DWI charge after crashing the La-Z-Boy into a parked car in August 2008. He was given a suspended 180-day jail sentence and fined $2000.  Click here for the complete story.

The La-Z-Boy motorized chair is powered by a eight horsepower Kohler lawnmower engine and comes equipped with a stereo, built-in cup holders and headlights.

The vehicle is controlled with a steering wheel protruding from the seat cushion. It even has a driver-side side mirror. Sorry, no seat-belts on this model. It is adorned with, among other things, the logo of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA).

Police Chief Walter Wobig says he's starting the bidding at $500 on Thursday (10/29/09) and it will be up on eBay for five days. Chief Walter Wobig cautions that the chair isn't "street legal," so any buyer would have to park it in the living room. The proceeds will go to the police, state and the prosecuting attorney.

Not to be outdone, the family of Dennis Anderson is also putting up on eBay an autographed photo of him (Dennis) riding the La-Z-Boy. They say the proceeds will go toward helping Dennis with his expenses.

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You Are Not My Son?

This is the heart-wrenching story of a father and son who thought they had found each other after years of separation, only to find out that fate had played a cruel trick on both of them.

Ron Ryba was a high school football star when he met his high school sweetheart, 16-year-old Kathy Butler, in 1975. They were in love and she became pregnant and bore him a son. It was a hard decision but they decided to give the baby up for adoption through the Catholic Charities of Trenton, N.J.

A few weeks later, Phil Bloete was adopted by a New Jersey couple through the same organization.

Ron and Kathy eventually broke up and ended up marrying other people. Ron stayed in touch with the Catholic Charities and through the years they provided him with baby pictures and assured him that the boy was doing well.

About five years ago the two men - Phil Bloete was now a high school English teacher - began writing to each other through the charity organization. They eventually decided to meet each other.

"I wanted him to know that he was born out of love and I had given him up as a gift," Ryba said, who explained that he and the baby's 16-year-old mother decided their son deserved a better upbringing than they could provide.

The meeting went well and they bonded in what they thought was a long-awaited father-and-son reunion. If fact everything went so well and the two grew so close that Ron decided to add Phil to his will last year. That was when things took a strange turn.

The results of the DNA tests that Ron's lawyer required they take, shocked everyone....the two sets of tests showed there was "zero percent chance" that Phil was related to Ron or his ex-girlfriend, Kathy....he was NOT their son.

Both men feel let down by Catholic Charities, which has been unable to come up with any information to untangle the mess.

Ron Ryba and Phil Bloete are not father and son, but they are friends bound together by a heart-wrenching mystery. Where is Ron's son? Who are Phil's birth parents? They remain determined to find out.

"We'll just take this journey together; we'll do it together," Ryba said.

Their story was told on Good Morning America in the video clip below:

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Texting Rage: 1 Man Shot, 1 Man Jailed

We've all heard of Road Rage; well, Scott Allen Elder, 22 and Brian Matison, 24, both of Savannah, Ga. took the concept to mobile phones, sending one of them to the hospital with a gunshot wound and the other to jail facing an aggravated felony assault charge.

According to Savannah-Chatham police spokeswoman, Veda Lamar Nichols, the incident began when one man dialed the phone number of the other man by mistake. This led to an argument which the two of them continued and escalated via hostile text messages.

They did however agree on one thing: They arranged to meet each other in the parking lot of the local CVS pharmacy at the corner of  Edgewater Street and Montgomery Crossroad.

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"They allowed a text message conversation to escalate to physical violence," Nichols said. "It was just one of those senseless things."

When the two men arrived at the CVS, the argument continued and Scott Allen Elder pulled a gun and shot Brian Matison.

Matison was taken to Memorial University Medical Center where he remains in serious condition. Elder was arrested and taken to the Chatham County jail on the felony assault charge. Police say that Elder's vehicle was also damaged in the encounter.

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5 Officers Charged with Masturbating a Dog

This is another case of  "just when you think you've seen/heard it all..." 5 Virginia Department of Corrections officers have been charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty - punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine - involving the fondling of a K-9 dog and videotaping two incidents. They are:

• Kelvin Thompson, 25, who works at Green Rock Correctional Center in Chatham;


• Melvin Boone, 40, who worked at the state prison in Sussex County;


• Adam R. Webb, 27, and Cheri Campbell, 35, who work at Nottoway Correctional Center; and


• Anthony Eldridge, 33, a sergeant who worked at Nottoway.

2 of the 5 charged, Melvin Boone and Anthony Eldridge, no longer work with the state. The Department of Corrections acknowledged that the matter had been investigated internally but declined to say whether Eldridge and Boone were terminated or left voluntarily. The department also would not say whether the other three were on leave. Trial is set for Nov. 20 for all except Webb, who will be tried Dec. 11.

Kelvin Thompson is accused of having "some sexual contact" with the dog - a male German shepherd or shepherd mix - while being videotaped by his fellow officers.

"Essentially, he was touching the dog's penis with his hand," Attorney Robert B. Beasley Jr. said. "The others were there filming it. That's actually how we learned of it -- there's a video."

Another corrections employee saw the video and reported it to a superior, Beasley said.  The events occurred between June 16 and Aug. 1, according to arrest warrants. All five officers were charged Oct. 2 by summons.

Apparently Kelvin Thompson was told that massaging his dog's genitals, would somehow make the animal easier to train. Dog trainers say that's obviously "not" a normal method of training but it is not unheard of:

"It has been used previously with very aggressive dogs to make them more submissive and passive, because it exhausts the dog but it's an inappropriate way of training dogs," said animal trainer Jemi Hodge.

Terry N. Grimes, Thompson's attorney, said his client planned to plead not guilty but admitted to fondling the animal. Grimes suggested the prosecution would have a difficult time proving animal cruelty. "The statute is not set up to deal with this type of thing. I don't think the legislature quite had this in mind," he said.

"Animal cruelty is conduct that is tantamount to torture. That inflicts pain. That puts the animal at risk of loss of life," said legal analyst Steve Benjamin.

In Virginia, bestiality is covered by crimes against nature, which could have resulted in a felony charge, according to state statutes. But a felony charge requires "carnal knowledge" of a "brute beast," implying intercourse, said Beasley, who added that he consulted with the state veterinarian's office before filing the charges.

Even if prosecutors do not win on the animal cruelty charges they may have another motive: Embarrassment.

"The embarrassment factor alone is going to be sufficient punishment for these individuals," said Steve Benjamin.

Even though what these officers did to their K-9 dog is no laughing matter and may still result in jail time, there is this episode from the series South Park that takes an irreverent and comedic look at this topic. Thanks to Mizozo.com I found this clip:

South Park - Red Rocket Video

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